Organization Quick Tip: The Caliber Organizer-, Canned Goods, Contacts and More #BATeenCast

(Transcript Below)

Lori Thompson gives a demonstration on how she organizes her canned goods, contacts, phone numbers and more by using a inexpensive device made by #Caliber. this accordion like case holds and indexes the PermaBraille index cards from #American Printing House web site that she has Brailled her information upon. Lori can be found on twitter @LThompson6835 and LoriThompson on Audioboom. BATeen Cast is produced by Blind abilities for State Services for the Blind of Minnesota and you can find out more about State Services at www.MNSSB.org

Transcript:

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[Intro]

Hey everybody this is Laurie Thompson I am coming in here with a little tip on some organization something that is very inexpensive and you can use it for multiple things that you want to organize. Today I have itís called a caliber. I picked it up at a drug store. It's a little like recipe box but it's an accordion recipe box. It has 12 different little plastic dividers throughout this accordion box. It's got the little tabbies like a file folder on the top. Then it has the top of it folds over and it has a rubber band with like a button on the front. So you can close it and put the rubber band over the button so it doesn't, none of your things fall out and it stays closed. So what I done with this accordion recipe box, I have taken some dymo tape and I have labeled 12 different labels for the little file tabbies that are on here. I did AB, CD, EF and so on and so forth and the last one I did WXY and Z. So that's my last one. Then I took some Perma Braille cards and Perma braille cards are the most wonderful things ever I have found for any type of organization. They come in 3x5 sizes and they also come in 4x6's, they also make either bigger sheets like 8x10 and I think 11x13, but I really don't have any purpose for those other than at work I have a full sheet of phone numbers contact for everybody in the office in case I have someone calls and needs to be transferred to them or something.

So what I do with these cards and I use the 3x5 cards because they fit into my card sleeve very well. I made labels with them I have one these accordion boxes were I organize like labels for my can goods when they are on my cans I just wrap them around my can good this a rubber band and then when I use that item I there is a little front part of the where I can store rubber bands then I can just file my little card that have corn, green beans, what have you underneath the letter it belongs in. Now getting back to these Perma braille cards they are fantastic they keep the braille crisp, if they get wet it doesn't ruin them. They don't rip. Theyíre just amazing. You can find these at the American Printing House. They used to be $8.50 and I believe it was 50 cards you would get. It is maybe kind of pricey but these things will last forever. You can use them for multiple things. Another thing that I use with an accordion recipe box for organization is contacts, peopleís names, phone numbers, addresses. I mean computers are great but sometimes they don't want to work right or they crash or a lot of people don't back things up. So I mean always having a hard copy around is great, so I will put my 3x5 Parma Braille card in my card slate and I start from the bottom and work my way up with someoneís name at the bottom and then address, city, state and then at the top I'll put their phone number, because when I store them into this organizer I store them facing away from me and upside down so that when I reach in with my hand I don't have to take it out, flip it around and try to read it. I can read it upside down; I get their name first, because that's what I put on the card first at the bottom.

Another thing you can use this for is everybody has new apps and they have to have a user Id and a password or maybe your banking information or different credit cards stuff. Everything seems to have to have a user id and a password and instead of using the same password for everything, cuz that's kind of dangerous, you know you can make cards like national library services you have to have a user id and a password. I don't like to have my computer just remember those things, not that it's a big deal for the National Library Services but you know what I mean. You just want to be careful so I try to use my Parma Braille cards and my card slate and I'll put down you know National Library Services at the bottom and then I work my way up with the user Id and then the password and then I store that under the letter N in my accordion box.

This is just a few of my tricks that I have on organization and hopefully you'll be able to hear more from me in the future and I would love to hear from you as well. So if anybody wants to contact me I am Laurie Thompson on Audio boom and my Twitter is @LThompson6835. So thank you and I hope this helps. [Outro] You can find more podcasts at blindabilities.com and BA Teencast on Audio Boom. You can also follow our blog on blindabilities.wordpress.com. [Music]